My son has been going to Goldfish Swim School for 4 years. He has learned how to swim and become…read morecompletely comfortable in the water. Our overall experience has been wonderful, and my son always enjoys going!

we are still going strong years later. We love this place and choose to be at this location because…read moreof the great service in teaching. Your location has been opened less than 10 minutes from our home and we still drive to Gaithersburg from Frederick because of the surface and the people my son did not want to try new location because he said he's very comfortable with the people this one's worth he feels the teachers and care about him and his well-being in the pool. We are extremely grateful for such a great location.

We had such a great trial class today! My baby turned 17 weeks today and I thought it would be fun…read moreto attend a swim class. It was very easy to create an account and sign up for a class. We easily checked in before class. The changing area is very tidy and clean. The walls were decorated so cute. My husband watched from the seating area. Our 30 minute class included 4 other babies. We sang songs, did stations, and finished with group time. It was just enough time to tire out my little guy. The instructor was great and was super helpful with making me and my baby feel comfortable. I loved learning new techniques to play with my baby when we go to the pool! I enjoyed the bonding experience with my little one. We certainly will be back!

My son is signed up for Big Blue and overall we have not had a good experience. First, we took a…read moretrial lesson on a Saturday morning which was a huge mistake. It was packed--every lane of the pool had 2-3 kids in it, the waiting area had standing room only, kids were crying, it was loud, siblings and kids were running around, and it was overwhelming for my son who had only ever been in a pool twice in his life. He cried the whole time. We did signup for lessons because they told us the weekdays were better. We were not informed of any plans available, we were simply told they had weekly lessons at like $33 a class and we said ok because we needed him to be safe and learn to swim. When we came for our next lesson and subsequent lessons afterwards, he had 2 other kids in his class for a total of 3 kids. At one lesson I witnessed him leave the wall 2xs in a 30 minute class. At that point I lost all hope that my son would learn to swim. I believe it was our 3rd lesson I found out that they had lesson plans and that if you committed to 4 months or more you received a discounted rate. We had already been for almost a month at that point and when I called to ask why we had not been informed of the plans the receptionist (via phone) told me, "we don't really tell people about the plans." What?? Why is that? Because you take in less money? I asked to move to the plan and have it prorated because I was not given proper information and she told me that was not possible. The manager did call me (and for the record he is very nice and professional) and he did remedy it by offering us a credit for the difference for the classes we had already taken and said they would mark our first lesson in June as the start of the plan. We also had an instance where I was chatting with someone via their text option and I inquired about moving a lesson to a different day for one week only because we had scheduled my other son for a pediatrician appointment. When the alternative options were not good, I told them not to change the lesson (I literally looked back at the texts on 2 occasions I said to leave the lesson as it was and I would move the other conflict we had) and when we got to swim the receptionist told is he was scheduled as missing that day and that his class was full (they put someone in as a makeup). I was really mad and they did make it work by shuffling the makeup student to another lane with another class that only had 2 in it, but the point is I said not to move it (TWICE) and still someone marked him as planned miss. I have a friend who loves Big Blue , but she goes in Springfield. She and I were texting and I was complaining to her and she asked me how he was doing. I told her he barely got any time in the pool and I was not happy. She asked me about his progress in the app and I said...WHAT APP? I asked Josiah and he was like nobody told you about the app?? NOPE. I expressed my concerns that my son had not been off the wall but 2xs in a 30 min class and the manager told me that a new teacher was starting on Mondays and they were adding times and because it was a new time/teacher there were no other students in the class so we shuffled some things around and moved over to Monday. The new teacher I found to be distracted a lot of the lesson. He was not very engaging with my child (said almost nothing to him, no good job or anything like that) and often was staring off into other lanes. I don't know if it is because he was new or because he was looking for reassurance from the other instructors, but it was noticeable. I did mention it to an employee (Josiah who is also a wonderful guy and very kind and professional) and he spoke with him, but after that the next two lessons were taught by someone different (like both times a different teacher so no consistency). Overall I finally felt like I was starting to feel good about Big Blue and the Monday class and I worked our fall family schedule around many things, swimming included and then I received a call from the manager. He told me they were doing away with the class we had just moved into..you know, the one I was finally happy with....and they gave me some other options that really do not work for us. The manager also told me that he mentioned the class could go away when we moved him to it (no, that was absolutely never mentioned). One issue is most of their time options are for 3:30pm and later and they offer few mid morning/early afternoon classes. I have 2 other kids, I work full time, my son (the one in lessons) has school 3 half days a week, and I almost refuse to do a Saturday based on our first experience for our trial swim + timing is hard. Overall I have not been impressed with the program, the constant time changes, the lack of information/what feels like withholding of information, distracted teachers, and mistakes. I just want my son to learn to swim, but will be soon looking elsewhere. I do appreciate the manager Eddie and Josiah, however.

I found Mathnasium Silver Spring on my hunt for a more effective way of teaching Math when I was…read morelooking for a tutor for my son because he struggles in Math in his level. First I enrolled my son in Mathnasium to just try it then I found it very helpful so this year I enrolled my daughter as well. My kids are going there 6 times a week because I want them to catch up to their level and the staff in Mathnasium Silver Spring is very professional, welcoming, encouraging, reachable and caring to the kids. Mathnesium Silver Spring also offers Chess on Wednesdays where my kids also participate. It is great - something that we would have paid separately in anywhere else. My son one day said "he is learning more in one hour at Mathnesium than the whole day at school". But more important, he seems to really enjoy his time there. My daughter is always ready to go to the center to work. I just wished we could find a similar program, for reading and writing.

My son is in the 7th grade and always received unacceptable grades in math. Since he has been going…read moreto Mathnasium (Down Town Silver Spring) his hold attitude toward math has changed. He looks forward to going, he feel comfortable asking questions and he's excited about math. The tutors are friendly and the location is clean. Thank you all so much!!!

Coach Michelle is truly the best. She handles children who are scared of the water very well. My…read moreson has gone to her for three summers. At first he was super scared, but now he's a great swimmer and loves the water. He even loves being in the ocean. Really a wonderful experience, and we're lucky to have Michelle! Highly recommend.

Initially, I had the mechanics down of how to swim but could not breathe while swimming. Water kept…read moregetting in my nose even on my backstroke! Thanks to a few lessons with Chris and Sarah, I now can swim multiple laps (freestyle, back & breast) and breathe at the same time. Couldn't have done it without them. Thank you!

My sister who lives in DC swims laps here 3 days a week. Since I'm in town, I decided to accompany…read moreher on her workout days. If you are a non-resident, you'll need to create an account and buy passes in order to use the pool. Since I'm here in DC for three weeks, I decided to buy 5 passes ($35) a week into my trip. Not a bad deal for sure. It's been a while since I've swam for exercise. I used to swim regularly in my home city's Boys & Girls Club pool. I've forgotten how good of an exercise it is. I love the water (being an island girl). Somehow, it doesn't feel like exercise to me. All three times we've gone, there were lap lanes available. But we've gone only on weekdays, mostly in the late morning. I love that the pool is indoors so we don't have to worry about the sun. They have lifeguards on duty. Sometimes the kiddie pool is closed if they don't have enough lifeguards on duty. This is the home of the DC Wave Swim Team and a Masters Swim Group. I imagine it's busy and closed sometimes for competition. The locker room, restrooms and shower room are suitably clean. I would definitely buy passes again when I'm back in DC for an extended period of time, so I can swim for exercise here.

Enjoyed my time here with my family. Free indoor pool for the kids for DC residents and the water…read moretemperature at the shallow section seemed warm year round

Requested Biruk again as he's been phenomenal in the past. No different this time. He's polite,…read moreextremely attentive to the pool, great in dealing with any "let's settle down over there" moments, and communicates well when scheduling. We've got friends now requesting him by name as he's provided similarly great experiences for them. Highly recommend you use Biruk next time you need a lifeguard!

Hired for private pool party in back yard & Henry was amazing, had 60 people with 20 kids swimming…read moreall parents said how nice it was to have the kids guard piece of mind and how impressed they were with Henry. Henry had no problem keeping the kids in line but had fun with them at the same time. I can not say enough good things about Henry.

Benning Stoddart Recreation Center is a modern recreation center on the border between Fort Dupont…read moreand Benning in Ward 7. It's right next to the Washington Tennis and Education East Capitol Campus. The inside is closed due to the pandemic, but the space-themed playground in the front is open. There's a small splash park (also closed during the pandemic), swings, several slides and equipment for kids to climb on and grow in confidence. Parking is free right in front of the recreation center.

Playground small but sufficient for young children. Huge problem - DPR staff refused to open the…read moreoutdoor restrooms on a Saturday. Wet Children frequently slipped and fell walking inside of the recreation center to use the indoor bathroom. On a different visit, we noticed the outdoor restrooms lacked soap, sanitizer or paper towels. Perhaps, DC should eliminate these restrooms and contract for port a potties.